Budget 2026: Women CEOs Push for Scale, Credit & Workforce Equity

By: WE Staff

As India prepares for the Union Budget 2026-27 on February 1, women CEOs and entrepreneurs are urging a shift from symbolic welfare measures to gender-intentional economic policymaking. Despite a 37 percent increase in the gender budget allocation to Rs 4.49 lakh crore in FY26, women leaders stress that spending must now translate into scale, sustainability, and stronger workforce participation.

Women own nearly 20 percent of India’s MSMEs but receive less than 7 percent of formal credit, making access to growth capital a central ask, along with collateral-free financing, export credit support, and extended tax benefits. Equally important are investments in enabling infrastructure, such as safe mobility, affordable housing, and a robust care economy, to arrest career drop-offs. Simplified compliance, sector-specific support across health, e-commerce, and agriculture, and incentives to formalise women’s participation are also key expectations.

To capture the evolving priorities of women at the helm, we speak with a diverse group of women founders, including Anshu Sarin, Hima Parvataneni, Achal Khanna, and Shaheen Mistri.